Sunday, July 9, 2017

Fangirling

Earlier this week, Teresa invited me to go to the Colorado Horse Park with some of her barn friends to indulge a little "weird fangirl creeping on Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory."

At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of that. After all, I have spent my entire life not being a weird fangirl creeper. I grew up in Los Angeles County, which is home to countless A-list stars. Despite that, I've never been to Beverly Hills or toured the homes of the rich and famous. My high school was a popular location for movies and television shows, but unlike many of my classmates, I never hung around the film crews hoping to talk to the actors. I did cross paths with several celebrities during my five years on the A-show Hunter/Jumper circuit, but I never followed them around at shows or tried to take their pictures.

Sorry, Kaley. I really want to be cool, but it turns out that I am actually a weird fangirl creeper.

Our intel indicated that Kaley was showing in the first or second class of the day. We arrived early and located her horse and groom...

but we didn't spot Kaley herself until the course walk.

Do you see her?

There she is!

I chose to watch the class instead of the warm up ring, so I didn't see her again until she rode up to the in-gate before her round.

This was a Low Junior/Amateur Jumper class, and her mount was Volcan D'Ivraie.

I'd heard that Kaley was a good rider, so my expectations were high.

Happily, she did not disappoint.

She and Volcan turned in a smooth, accurate round.

They left all the jumps up...

and were fast enough for second place.

Good job, Volcan!

After the class ended, we headed over to the barn area to check out Kaley's stalls.

This was pretty plushy, even by hunter/jumper standards.

While there, we petted...

but did not feed Kaley's barn mascot Smooshy.

I think Smooshy would have preferred treats!

Then Teresa and I spent some time at the hunter ring. We were about to head home when word came down that Kaley was in the warm ring on her horse, Bound to Be.

Naturally, we headed back to jumper land and watched her ride in the highest section of the High Junior/Amateur Jumpers class.

This was another nice ride.

She didn't go clear, but it didn't matter.

She was the only entrant so she got a blue ribbon.

High fives all around.

I still feel a little sheepish about being a weird fangirl stalker, but this was a really fun day. Thanks for inviting me, Teresa, and thank you for being such a worthy fangirl victim, Kaley. I very much enjoyed watching you ride your lovely horses.

The Colorado Horse Park is hosting seven consecutive weeks of hunter/jumper shows this summer. Not everyone stays for the whole circuit, but pretty much everyone stays long enough to need stalls. At smaller shows, you would see horses tied to the trailer.